Murder City_ Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields - Charles Bowden [127]
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 21, 2008
State Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez is avoiding public events. She was at her offices in Ciudad Juárez yesterday under heavy guard, but refused to be interviewed. Unofficial sources said that Gonzalez Rodriguez met with business leaders who expressed their concern about the wave of executions and abductions in the city. On several occasions, the official has received funeral wreaths and some of her aides have been murdered or injured in organized crime shootings.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 21, 2008
PUERTO PALOMAS DE VILLA—The recent execution of two persons and the abduction of six others in this border community has provoked the resignation of the entire preventive police force of the village. At 6:00 P.M. Wednesday, the police found out that armed groups had abducted several people, and an hour later, Police Commander Emilio Pérez and six of his subordinates received death threats. They abandoned their posts, and their whereabouts are unknown. Yesterday, only two officers were present at the jail. “We can’t do anything, we are alone here,” said one of the officers, who did not give his name. He said that yesterday two bodies wrapped in blankets and tied with adhesive tape were found in separate locations on the outskirts of the town. Afterward the bodies were identified as Sergio Pérez, 55, and Rigoberto Muñoz Acosta, 21.
As of yesterday afternoon, Palomas was left with no preventive police. State authorities asked that soldiers from the army post south of Palomas patrol the urban area.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 21, 2008
Three men were shot by two armed men inside a nightclub after being involved in a fight. The incident took place at 4:30 in the morning in the La Mentira bar in the Colonia La Cuesta. The victims were identified as Arnulfo Loma, 24, who was found on the street outside the bar; Saúl Bernal and Ignacio Bermúdez, whose bodies remained inside. The killers were said to be well-known clients at the bar who escaped without being detained.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 21, 2008
Transit policeman Jorge Osorio was shot in the back this morning as he patrolled in the area of Vicente Guerrero Avenue and Paseo Triunfo de la Republica.
Las Cruces Sun-News, March 21, 2008
The embattled city of Palomas, Mexico, is now literally lawless. The Luna County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol reported Thursday that the Palomas Chief of Police came to the Columbus Port of Entry late Tuesday night, requesting political asylum. The chief, identified as Emilio Pérez, reportedly told Immigration and Customs Enforcement his department’s only two officers had fled and he had no idea where they are.
Dallas Morning News, March 21, 2008
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—The killers arrived at the motel in the predawn
gloom. Dressed in military-style uniforms and armed with automatic weapons, they forced the manager to hand over a guest list, then stormed from room to room, pointing their guns at the terrified occupants. In room 49 they opened fire on the man and woman inside. The woman’s body was on the floor next to the bed, and the man was in the bathroom. At least 100 bullet casings were found, police said. The killers escaped in three late-model SUVs.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 21, 2008
At 7:10 P.M., another transit policeman was attacked and seriously injured after being shot by an armed commando. Minutes later, his motorcycle exploded and crashed. He was transferred to a hospital and dozens of policemen arrived to guard the medical institution.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 22, 2008
Despite intensive security operations this week by state and municipal authorities, 11 murders took place in a recent 12-hour period. The toll for March now stands at 77, an unprecedented number of homicides in one month in the history of the city. The recent rash of killings began Thursday night at about 7:00, when the body of a man was found adjacent to the Colinas de Juárez cemetery. At